Former Christie administration member to testify on GWB scandal Tuesday

May 6, 2014

Special investigative committee Co-Chairman John Wisniewski is expecting to hear from Christina Genovese Renna, a former aide in Gov. Chris Christie's administration, during Tuesday's meeting of the panel. / Getty Images

TRENTON — Lawmakers hope to gain new insight into the George Washington Bridge scandal Tuesday when they question Christina Renna, who worked under Bridget Anne Kelly, a key figure in the scandal.

Kelly is Gov. Chris Christie’s former deputy chief of staff who wrote the “time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” email, widely considered the trigger for the shutdown of bridge access lanes in September.

Renna quit her administration job in January shortly after she was among dozens of individuals and organizations ordered to produce documents under subpoenas from the New Jersey Legislative Select Committee on Investigation.

Renna’s attorney, Henry Klingeman, has downplayed the investigation’s impact on his client’s departure from her position as Christie’s director of government affairs, saying Renna had been thinking about leaving the position “for some time” since Christie won re-election in November.

“She is scheduled and planning to testify,” Klingeman said Friday. “I have a general understanding of the format but not the specific questions.”

A legal analyst said the Republican governor could have nervous moments when Renna takes the witness seat at the investigative committee’s public hearing Tuesday at 10 a.m.

“The governor has consistently said he knew nothing about it. It appears he contends a limited number of staffers were involved in the traffic jam,” said Lee Stapleton, a former chief assistant at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida.

“Christie may feel confident that Renna will testify that she was not entangled in this. Her testimony could potentially be helpful to the governor if she says she knew nothing about the plans to tie up traffic. That may show it was not a widespread conspiracy in his office,” Stapleton said.

Renna’s close working and personal relationship with Kelly was detailed in an internal investigation commissioned by the Christie administration. The investigation’s report put focus on a copied email from Kelly that Kelly later asked Renna to delete.

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The report says Christie held a meeting Dec. 12 and demanded more information from this staff about what was known about the lane closures. Kelly told Christie’s chief of staff she had searched her emails for relevant documents but then asked Renna to delete an email she had exchanged with Port Authority executive David Wildstein — another central figure in the scandal — during the lane closures.

Renna preserved a copy of the email, the report said.

Assemblyman John Wisniewski and Sen. Loretta Weinberg, the co-chairs of the investigative committee, in a joint statement said the subpoenas for testimony for Renna and other witnesses scheduled to appear in coming weeks “can begin providing insight into the troubling environment that allowed something as concerning as these lane closings to happen. Their insight will be crucial to our reform efforts. We look forward to their cooperation and testimony.”

Kelly hasn’t cooperated with the investigation with her lawyer successfully arguing in court that turning over records would violate her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.

Wisniewski and Weinberg, both majority Democrats, have been accused on several occasions by Republican panel members for allowing partisanship to navigate the investigation.

A joint letter from Assemblywoman Amy Handlin of Monmouth County and the other three GOP members charged that the inquiry was being turned “into a political vehicle designed to damage the governor’s standing and popularity.”

Stapleton said the political bickering could seep into Tuesday’s proceedings.

“It’s very often at these types of hearing for lawmakers to air their views in the form of a question, rather than a real attempt to gather information,” Stapleton said.

Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak is scheduled to testify May 13 and former campaign staffer Matt Mowers is scheduled for May 20. Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye and William “Pat” Schuber, an authority board member, are scheduled for June 3.